Model Hairdo

I ran into an old friend from high school today. She was always known affectionately as Tall Kathy. As it happens, she is now a quite sought-after runway model, and has the devil-may-care fashion sense and conceptual haircut to prove it. She looks a bit like a silent film star filtered through the lens of an underground magazine from Berlin.

Rather than go into detail about my life in banking, I instead asked her who was cutting her hair. As I’d suspected, it was a guy in London – safely out of my reach. But it did get me thinking about investing in an edgy ‘do next time I’m thinking about splashing out on a new look. Maybe I ought to check out that place my cousin keeps going on about; I think she said it’s in David Jones. Hairdressing salon appointment with the annual school shoe shopping expedition? Don’t mind if I do.

Regardless, I doubt I’ll ever match up to Tall Kathy (must stop staying that… it’s Just Kathy now) in the fashion stakes. We always thought her dress sense was a bit weird, but her taste for the outlandish has translated well to having a fair bit of money and access to the world’s coolest outfitters. Me? I tend to stick with what I know. That’s why I’m a financial analyst who wears different versions of the same suit to work every single day, and has had the same haircut for the past five years.

I could be more aesthetically adventurous if I wanted to. I could sit down this weekend and make a shortlist of the edgiest hair stylists around. Melbourne CBD must have plenty on offer, not to mention the inner north. It wouldn’t be hard. I could do it with my hands tied behind my back.

I could do it… I just don’t want to.

I wonder if Just Kathy’s thinking the same about my life? You know: that she could be a financier with an art deco apartment in South Melbourne and a selection of posh suits… if she wanted to.